The risks you took as a young cyclist?

[Riverman]

The risks you took as a young or new cyclist?

Do you ever sit back and think, "Goodness me, I can't believe the risks I took cycling when I was younger"?

When I was 15 I would cycle for miles, although the furthest i went in one go was about 15miles. Almost everyday though I'd get on my bike, unware of the risks from lorries etc. I didn't wear a helmet either but let's not go there on that one. I also didn't know anything about maintaining the thing. I wouldn't even call it a bike, it was a heap of shoot.

So as young cyclists, what are the biggest stupidist risks you took?

It's just these cycling deaths have irked me somewhat and I'm in some ways trying to reassure myself that as I'm mr sensible cyclist now, I'm much less likely to be hurt than when I was in my youth.

I imagine my experience wasn't atypical, and I find it worrying that this is likely to be the case today. Perhaps they should include road safety in the national curriculum.

 

[hambones]

The risks I took as a youngster are the same the young take today - which is a good thing!

I was however surprised at my 8 year olds' recent Cubs night where they were earning their Cycling Badge. Of the 17 who took part, only 4 owned a helmet and only one actually wore it to the Scout hut! They all managed to pass though! Glad to see the spirit of youth alive and well!

 

[gavintc]

Absolutely dreadful and to think they rode on the roads like that with all those dangerous cars.

 

[asterix]

When I was 11 or 12 I frequently cycled to school!!

It was 8 miles each way and we went through 2 towns. No-one wore helmets and no-one fell off (gravity was a lot weaker in those pre-climate change, pre-credit-crunch days).

How did we survive? Mind you, there were no 4x4s doing the school run in those days so much safer.

 

[worcester dan]

more than likely bunny hopping increasing numbers of people( on a BMX), the error of ways was bought home when the person at the end of the row sat up slightly and got a split head courtesy of my crank

 

[Helly79]

I use to try and do stunts on my mountain bike like going down a road and stand on the cross bar etc.

 

[ColinJ]

I cycled to school for the first year at grammar school. That involved going down what I considered then to be a 'killer hill'. Nothing much by Yorkshire standards - probably 10% max and 5% average gradient, but significant enough to make a lot of people get off their bikes and walk up it.

One particular day, I'd gone home for lunch and had left it a bit late setting off to go back so I was in a bit of a hurry. It started raining just as I set off.

The traffic lights at the foot of the hill were on green so I flew down the hill as fast as I could, only for the lights to change just before I got to them.

The traffic started moving across the crossroads at the lights as I applied my brakes, but to my horror the brakes didn't work! Wet steel rims, and cheap brake blocks are not a great combination.

I shot straight across the junction through the gap between two fast-moving cars. A very lucky near miss. A few yards either way and I'd have been hit...

 

[ohsoslow]

Risks .........

After riding a Chopper I'm amazed I managed to father any children , just who's idea was it to put the gear shift THERE .

 

[zacklaws]

Risks when I was young? I take more now at 54 than I have ever done.

Only a short while ago, fishing a lake well off the beaten track that was only reachable by walking or cycling a good distance, I was moving swims, holding all my rods in one hand cycling down a very steep grassy slope, thinking how stupid I was at the same time and I should not be doing that. Then I jack knifed in a hole, result was handlebars through my ribs breaking a couple of them and totally ruining my front wheel.

 

[jimboalee]

Riding to work on a track bike.

No PRK, No tools, No brakes. Double-up toe straps.

 

[ianrauk]

never seemed to have punctures either in those days..

 

[colinr]

I mostly didn't look when cutting between pavements and the road. Cue near misses and car driver complaints being brought up in assembly.

never seemed to have punctures either in those days.

I had loads due to knackered tyres (but didn't know about that sort of thing, tyres is tyres right?). But I was never more than a few miles from home (for the walk back) and had loads of spare time to fix them.

 

[RedBike]

Looking back my bike was dangerously maintained.

The brakes didn't work, you had to hold the gear lever in place or it would automatically change to top gear, If you hit a good bump the handlebars would turn so they wern't facing the same direction as the wheel and I only pumped the tyres up once a year if that.

Oddly though despite these few minor faults I could ride down steps (can't now), never punctured and never seemed to struggle to stop. I also can't ever remember ever having to phone anyone up and yell at them to come and pick me up because i'm having bike trouble.

Used to go out all day and cover a wopping 10miles, if that.

 

[gbb]

In the early 70s when apehangers and monkeybars abounded, a couple of us took our bikes to the local smithy and got him to extend the front forks by about a foot. Bloody ridiculous when you think about it....but they never failed.

Also we used to have this competition. There were lots of large privet hedges around the houses. One had a hump of soil somewhere near it. Sprint like buggery, fly through the air on the bike and land 'somehow' in the hedge. Privet is soft'ish'..but the occasional handlebar in the groin isnt

 

[Halfmanhalfbike]

Before winter was not just a wetter summer we used to cycle our old raleighs across a frozen reservoir near where we lived. The bikes weighed a ton and none of us could swim.

Never thought twice about it then but every time I think about it now I get a cold shiver